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Responsible Palm Oil Initiative Issues Invitation For New Members

The Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG) – an Effort to Strengthen the Environmental and Social Standards of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) – Seeks to Expand

The Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG) today invited progressive palm oil players to join an initiative with the goal of increasing the global demand and supply of responsible palm oil.

This initiative aims to bridge the gap between responsible palm oil producers and the growing list of palm oil consumer companies such as Nestle, Ferrero, Unilever, L’Oreal, Safeway, DelHaize, Kellogg and Mars which have made ‘No Deforestation’ commitments and are demanding responsibly produced palm oil.

The founders of the Palm Oil Innovation Group, Agropalma, DAABON, New Britain Palm Oil, WWF, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Forest Peoples Programme and Greenpeace, today announced that the initiative is accepting new members and supporters who are committed to promoting and supporting innovation and improvements in the sector.

Palm oil producers and social and environmental NGOs are eligible to become members. Producers must first commit to the meet the requirements of the POIG Charter and have 50% of their plantation estate already verified against the RSPO Principles and Criteria. The POIG Charter builds on the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO) certification scheme with additional requirements that ensure all palm oil operations are free from the destruction of high carbon stock forests and peatlands and human and labor rights abuses.

In order to build the support for this sector-wide transformation, any stakeholder involved in the palm oil sector who supports the Charter and shares its vision are now invited to become official supporters.

We will prove that palm oil production does not need to be linked to forest destruction, social conflict or worsen climate change.

All that is needed now is for other stakeholders to actively support innovation and improvements in the palm oil sector and demonstrate that business as usual is not longer tenable.”

Notes to editor: The POIG Charter can be accessed at: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/photos/fore...

For media inquiries or stakeholders interested in joining the Palm Oil Innovation Group: Contact the Palm Oil Innovation Group Organizing Committee on info@poig.org to receive a copy of the application forms and Terms of Engagement for new members and supporters.